Star Wars 1313: No Co-op or Handheld Versions

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New footage shows off gameplay, downloadable content confirmed.

By Eric Goldman

Star Wars 1313 will be a single-player game and will not be available on handhelds. In new footage debuted at Star Wars Celebration VI, LucasArts gave us a much more extended look at moments we saw in the recently released trailer. Answering audience questions, LucasArts said 1313 is a single-player experience -- while the demo shows two characters, there is no co-op mode and you will not be able to play as your partner. There will be downloadable content, and there are currently no plans for a handheld version of the game.

The footage shown began with a cutscene involving two men -- we were again were reminded these are placeholder characters for whoever really is at the center of this game -- in a beat up old ship, flying over Coruscant, which then heads down a vast chasm towards the center of the planet.

The younger man (let’s call him Hero) says to his slightly older, clearly more experienced partner (let’s call him Partner) that this is the worst transport he’s ever been on, to which Partner says, “I’ve seen worse. Hell, I’ve lived in worse,” adding that they needed something that wasn’t obvious, as they sneak a peek inside a large, yellow transport container, from which a monstrous creature snarls towards them, that they shove back in.

They look at a hologram of Coruscant, showing how deep they’re going, with Partner saying Hero better get his last breaths of fresh air in, and Hero replying, “Fresh air is overrated.” Says Partner, “Let’s see how you feel about that after you're 1000 levels down”

We then see a much more extended look at the footage from the trailer of a second ship following them, in which we see a squad of Stormtrooper/Biker Scout-looking armored soldiers, along with a new type of Battle Droid, who shoots a line down towards the Bounty Hunter ship, and hurtles along the line towards it.

We then go back into the Hunters ship and this is where the gameplay began, with Hero being controlled (the demo was played onstage at Celebration by 1313’s creative director, Dominic Robilliard), while Partner runs ahead in the ship. Suddenly there’s an explosion, sending both men back and the Droid runs forward, grabbing the yellow crate with the creature and pulling him back, while the Troopers run past and towards you.

Controlling Hero, you and Partner battle the Troopers, in a moody, atmospheric setting with smoke and haze filling the ship, while damage begins to blow pieces of the wall off the sides of the ship, revealing the enemy ship flying alongside you and the Coruscant chasm surrounding you both. The visuals were very impressive and immersive.

While Partner is not under your control, there are some fun moments of partnership between you. As some of the Troopers escape back to their ship using the tether they boarded with, Partner asks for your help lifting a piece of equipment blocking you from them. After you help him lift it, he runs forward and manages to grab one Trooper from behind and hold him in place, allowing you to punch the Trooper and knock him out.

In a moment that got a cheer from the crowd, cut scene footage than has Partner grab their new prisoner and toss him into an escape pod, whose jettison path is aimed right at the enemy ship. He then throws a thermal detonator into the pod with the panicking Trooper, shuts the door and launches the pod - which hurtles straight into the enemy ship and explodes. With the enemy ship now on fire, Partner leaps onto it, and Hero follows. As Hero, you then must climb up the wing of the enemy ship, as it burns and begins to fall apart and then leap from one part of the ship to another before any section collapses. The demo ended in true cliffhanger fashion, as Hero attempted to make one more big leap to save himself.

We were also shown a couple of behind-the-scenes videos. One touted the cooperation between LucasArts and ILM on 1313, as it was noted that there was much more true collaboration on this game than other projects where one division might work on one aspect and then hand it over to another.

Robilliard noted their intent with 1313 was that “the images you see in the game are completely consistent with the cut scenes. We worked really hard to make those transitions in and out as seamless as possible.” From what we saw onstage today, they've succeeded admirably in this regard, as the transitions between cut scene and gameplay were indeed very cohesive and smooth.

Robilliard added, “You never see anything in a cut scene that you’d rather play. We wanted to make sure you were in control of those moments."

Concept art was shown of the world of 1313, which highlighted how dark and ominous it was, complete with beggars, gamblers and, in one darkly humorous visual, a group keeping warm over a trashcan fire – except the trashcan is an old, hollowed out Astromech/R2-style droid. Robilliard and producer Peter Nicolai both said the game would be more mature and explore more shades of grey than your typical Star Wars story.

Robilliard wouldn’t give any hints as to who the main characters in 1313 are or when we’ll find out and see footage not using the placeholders, but he did acknowledge that there will be familiar faces from previous Star Wars stories in the game.